SAN JOSE -- Even before its opening next month, a "bikini bar" slated for downtown San Jose has stirred opposition and angst.

The Gold Club San Jose, whose grand opening hosted by porn star Katie Morgan is scheduled for Aug. 8 to 10, will feature scantily clad dancers on platforms that double as tables for guests. City rules prohibit nudity in clubs, but it remains unclear just how little the dancers will wear and what entertainment they will perform.

"San Jose is a great city, but it doesn't have an upscale club like this in that market," Mike Rose, chief executive officer of the South Carolina-based PML Clubs, which has licensed the operator of the club to use The Gold Club brand, told this newspaper. "There is a demand for upscale-type entertainment such as ours."

A bikini bar called the Gold Club is set to open in August 2013 in the old San Jose Building and Loan Association building on Santa Clara Street in downtown San Jose. (Sal Pizarro)

But the prospect of a bikini club in the heart of downtown on Santa Clara Street has drawn criticism from some, including Councilman Sam Liccardo, who represents the downtown area.

"Nothing about The Gold Club is consistent with the common ambition we have in San Jose to take the city and the downtown to the next level," Liccardo said in an interview. "Put simply, this is a lame idea. We already have no shortage of men in their 20s with ample testosterone."

Liccardo is consulting with city staff members to explore what measures might be taken to greatly limit the scope of entertainment at the club.

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"The focus would be health and safety issues," Liccardo said, noting that the city can't impose an outright ban on exotic dancing. U.S. Supreme Court rulings have defined that sort of entertainment as protected expressions under the First Amendment.

"We don't regulate dancing, but we do regulate nudity, and there will be no nudity as defined by what is allowed under city ordinances," said Laurel Prevetti, San Jose's assistant planning director. "This is definitely a new type of enterprise coming to San Jose that we haven't seen before."

Sharing Liccardo's concerns about the club is Matthew Mahood, president of the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce. "We're disappointed that this type of business would be allowed to operate in the downtown city core," he said.

Rick Jensen, spokesman for the Downtown San Jose Association, declined to take a position on the club, though he said he expects it to be "good neighbors" with other downtown businesses.

"San Jose is an urban center, the cultural and entertainment center for Silicon Valley," Jensen said. "We understand there is a market demand for this type of establishment."

But Edwing Flores, owner of Picasso's, a restaurant across the street from the new club, is doubtful.

"It will be a big problem for the downtown and it may bring prostitution to this area," Flores said. "Customers will see a girl they like, have a drink, then have more entertainment after the doors close for the evening."

Tasha Mistry, a Fremont resident who works in downtown San Jose, agrees that the club is "inappropriate" at that location. "This area is supposed to be more corporate. I didn't even know this was going to be here," she said.

The Gold Club, which will operate across the street from a future residential high-rise that is under construction at Market and West Santa Clara streets, will likely have about 100 employees, Rose estimated. It is advertising online for cocktail waitresses, cashiers, bartenders and security personnel.